This invention relates to a radio communication system, a radio communication apparatus and method and a program.
In recent years, a radio LAN (Local Area Network) which utilizes the radio communication standards of the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc.) 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g has been popularized. An example of a radio LAN of the type mentioned is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-330142 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-344458 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2).
Conventionally, however, in order to construct such a radio LAN as described above, it is necessary for a user to set unique information such as identification information of the radio LAN such as, for example, an SSID (Service Set Identification) or information regarding the security such as, for example, a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key using software for exclusive use installed suitably in a personal computer (hereinafter referred to suitably as PC (Personal Computer)).
It is to be noted that, although the software for exclusive use sometimes is a setting tool itself, since such setting is generally performed through setting of a W.W.W. (World Wide Web) page provided in the inside of an access point, in such an instance, a W.W.W. browser corresponds to the software for exclusive use. Or, also a W.W.W. browser may be regarded as one of setting tools.
Thus, there is a first subject in that, in order to construct a ratio LAN, it is necessary for a user to perform complicated operations including a plurality of manual operations such as, for example, manual inputting of an SSID and long operating time is required for the operations.
Further, most setting tools are application software for a PC. Therefore, there is a second subject that a user that does not have a PC cannot construct a radio LAN. In recent years, not only a PC but also a household electric appliance such as a hard disk recorder is available as a terminal of a radio LAN, and the second subject described is remarkable particularly to a user who desires to construct a radio LAN using a household electric appliance without using a PC.
In order to solve the first and second subjects described above, a method has been proposed wherein a station such as, for example, a PC card or a converter for a radio LAN to which information of an access point such as, for example, an SSID is set in advance is sold in a set together with an access point. The method, however, does not solve the first and second subjects sufficiently because the first and second subjects take place where the setting of the access point is changed or another station is purchased newly.
Further, for example, the Patent Document 1 discloses a method wherein a station such as, for example, a radio communication terminal possessed by a user performs connection for communication in an infrastructure mode through an access point set in advance and changes over the mode thereof to an ad-hoc mode if the connection results in failure. It is to be noted here that the infrastructure mode is a mode wherein a connection to an existing network is established through an access point which is a repeater in the network. In contrast, the ad-hoc mode is a mode wherein a radio network is constructed only from radio communication terminals without the intervention of any access point.
The method disclosed in the Patent Document 1, however, presupposes that such identification information (an SSID or the like) of a radio LAN corresponding to a predetermined access point and information (a WEP key) regarding the security as described above and so forth are registered in advance also in the station side. Therefore, it is impossible to perform new setting to another access point or change the setting of an access point set in advance. In other words, the method disclosed in the Patent Document 1 cannot solve the first and second subjects.
Meanwhile, for example, the Patent Document 2 discloses another method wherein radio networks which can be used for radio communication are detected, that is, SSIDs are acquired, and a connection is established to the radio network corresponding to a predetermined one of the acquired SSIDs.
While the Patent Document 2 discloses setting of an SSID as described above, it does not disclose setting of information regarding the security, that is, setting of a WEP key. In other words, while the method disclosed in the Patent Document 2 allows construction of a radio LAN, that is, allows radio communication, it does not involve setting of information regarding the security. Therefore, the method of the Patent Document 2 gives rise to a new third subject that the security in radio communication cannot be assured in a radio LAN in which information regarding the security is not set.